History
Catholic Relief Services has been operational in South Sudan since 1983, focusing on building community-based food and livelihood security through activities in agriculture, WASH, health, peace-building, and savings and
lending. CRS also helps strengthen local nongovernmental organizations and
communities. The agency has staff in South Sudan as well as in Nairobi, where a technical team works on issues of food and livelihoods security throughout the region.
Partners
Archdiocese of Juba/Caritas Juba
Archdiocese of Juba/Caritas Juba is a registered, faith-based organization in South Sudan, working in Central Equatoria state. Catholic Relief Service has been working with Caritas Juba for more than 3 years on projects related to livelihoods, education, emergency response and peacebuilding.
CRS has a strategic partnership with Caritas Juba, developing its institutional capacity through systems strengthening and accompaniment. Caritas Juba has 11 full time staff who contribute to its program, administration, finance and support functions.
Solidarity with South Sudan
Solidarity with South Sudan is a project that promotes the Kingdom of God in partnership with the local Church and the people of Sudan through the establishment and development of teacher and health training institutes and those pastoral services deemed most urgent.
Solidarity with South Sudan commits its community members to embrace and act out of a spirituality of justice, peace and the integrity of creation marked by 1) proclamation, 2) vulnerability and powerlessness, 3) appreciation and respect for local cultures, 4) dialogue and mutuality, 5) solidarity and accompaniment, 6) reconciliation, 7) reverence for all creation, and 8) hope.
Government of Jonglei State
The Government of Jonglei state oversees an area of nearly 76,000 square miles with a population of more than 1.3 million people.
Catholic Relief Services is currently implementing a 3-year food security program across nine counties in Jonglei through the support of USAID and in close collaboration with the state government. As part of the project, CRS employs government staff, strengthening their capacity to return and continue incorporating project knowledge into the government's future food security platforms once the project ends.
Programs
Agriculture
The goals of Catholic Relief Services South Sudan's agriculture program are as follows:
- Engage vulnerable communities to meet their long-term food and livelihood needs.
- Foster sustainable socio-economic development.
- Promote agricultural practices that link production to conservation, using local sources where available.
- Build capacity of local government extension workers and partners to provide high quality food security services.
Since 2006, CRS has distributed seeds and tools to over 10,000 farmers, largely through seed fairs, which helped create markets for farmers with surpluses to sell to those in need.
Learn more about our agriculture programming in South Sudan.
The goal of Catholic Relief Services South Sudan's governance program is to facilitate and ensure that South Sudanese communities successfully advocate for more effective and equitable governance. We do this using strong partnerships with the local Church and secular organizations, the host government, nongovernmental organizations and international agencies to efficiently and effectively deliver services to those most in need.
From 2006 to 2008, CRS South Sudan provided a package of technical assistance, established internal control and administrative management systems and afforded the renovation of physical infrastructure for selected local authorities. Through our work, CRS increased social capital among citizens to demand more responsive governance.
Learn more about our governance programming in South Sudan.
Learn more about our efforts to empower women for public life in South Sudan.
Given the ongoing emergencies and hazards in South Sudan, disaster response remains a critical sector for the country program. In 2011 and 2012, Catholic Relief Services South Sudan responded to support the victims of attacks in and around Abyei through the support of the Caritas Internationalis coordination unit. We also offered non-food items to victims of inter-ethnic attacks in Jonglei following large clashes in 2012. Similarly, CRS has provided non-food items, food and other recovery support to thousands of returnees to the country throughout Eastern Equatoria, Upper Nile and Jonglei states.
Health
Microfinance
SILC, short for Savings and Internal Lending Communities–Catholic Relief Services’ flagship microfinance program –has empowered more than 2,000 members in South Sudan to mobilize $95,000 in savings. Members have accumulated $12,113 in social insurance funds, used by individuals to decrease the risk of emergency needs.
The goals of SILC in South Sudan are as follows:
- Teach communities the discipline of saving.
- Empower vulnerable groups to mobilize their own resources to access credit.
- Build solidarity among community members.
- Facilitate the accumulation of sufficient assets to allow marginalized groups to escape the cycle of poverty.
Learn more about our microfinance programming in South Sudan.
The goal of Catholic Relief Services South Sudan's peacebuilding program is to support South Sudanese institutions to actively prepare for, prevent and respond to violent conflicts. Previous initiatives focused on intense strengthening of faith-based and government partners to mitigate conflict or prevent its escalation to violence.
From 2009 to 2011, CRS accompanied both the government and the local church in implementing a shared mandate for peacebuilding and to launch dedicated conflict mitigation initiatives in advance of the January 2011 referendum. CRS' willingness to remain at the side of our partners earned us the confidence and appreciation of South Sudan's government.
learn more about our peacebuilding programming in South Sudan.
The goals of Catholic Relief Services South Sudan's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program are as follows:
- To support the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation by enhancing its staff's capacity in managing systems.
- To empower local communities to care for their water supply and sanitation systems as well as improve their hygiene behaviors.
Our robust program has contributed to the drilling of more than 400 boreholes and rehabilitation of more than 550 wells since 2006. The program has also trained more than 750 hygiene promoters and built nearly 5,000 latrines throughout the country.
Learn more about our water and sanitation programming in South Sudan.
